mark preston joins us now live from washington. mark, what do you have for us? >> before we get to real serious news, i have a friend here in town for the steven colbert testimony. it's pete dominic. he used to work for steve colbert. he went up to hear mr. colbert testify. he can't hear you, don, tell me what the testimony looked like today. >> three words. impactful and important and some might say inappropriate. i say, i love him. >> he needed to learn how to count. >> needs to go back to math class. >> dana bash was there as well. he's getting applause. let's get to the real news as they say. bad news for democrats. the new poll is out. the generic ballot shows republicans have a nine-point lead over democrats. we have 39 days until the midterm elections. last hour, we told you president obama's approval rating is at 42%. two good numbers for republicans, two bad numbers for democrats. michael steele is motoring across the country. 48 states. doing a little campaigning. he'll be back in annapolis on october 29th. some think it's a good idea. others think it'